Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Still trying to understand what caused the fire that destroyed his home on Tuesday, a Rio Claro gardener is now seeking assistance to rebuild.
Fortunately, Nick Byanile, 50, his wife, and their four-month-old baby were not at home when the fire broke out.
His wife and child have been staying with her relatives in Central for some time now.
Byanile recalled that he was at his mother’s home, a short distance away, sometime before 2 pm when he saw his house at Lazzari Trace, Poole Village, on fire.
Byanile recalled, “She (my mother) tell me she hear like somebody cutting down by my house. When I come out and watch, I just see the whole house on fire.”
He was unable to save anything as the fire quickly ravaged the entire house.
Insisting that he left no open flames burning in the home, he also dismissed arson as a possibility.
Byanile said the only other logical conclusion was that an electrical fault caused the fire. However, the fire services have not yet determined the cause of the blaze. “I don’t think it was set maliciously because I don’t live no kind of way with people. I have no enemy,” he said.
He estimated the loss of his two-bedroom home and appliances at $60,000 to $70,000. Byanile, who had lived there for 24 years, lamented that he had no money to purchase building materials to rebuild.
Rio Claro South/Cat’s Hill Councillor David Law, who visited Byanile on Tuesday, said he was working with Mayaro MP Wilfred Nicholas Morris and the Disaster Management Unit to assist him. Anyone willing to assist him can contact 709-3256.
